Indi's P.O.V. - 31st of March 2021
As expected, my phone is blowing up.
Last night was so much fun, Ruel took me to dinner and we went for a walk along the beach before finally dropping me home at 10 pm. It was as late as we could stay out since I have school today. I purposely put my phone in the kitchen overnight so I didn't have to worry about any noises waking me up, and sure enough, I've woken up to over a hundred Instagram notifications.
I categorise these into three groups over breakfast; fan accounts sharing the news with their followers, Individual fans messaging me (both good and bad messages) and finally, friends of mine that I didn't bother telling before everyone else. I know the mature thing to do would be to put my phone down and prioritise getting through school today, but after I shower I feel the need to check and reply to most of them anyway. Since my car still isn't working, I decide to do them on the bus. I'm lucky that my school allows casual dress instead of uniforms (a rarity in Australia) so I can hide my face with a baggy hoodie as I get on the bus and make my way to the very back. It's mostly filled with school students, all excited about the last day before Easter break.
Once I take a seat, I open Instagram and start with the friend's category, pretty much just copy-and-pasting an ungenuine few sentences about how I was 'totally planning to tell my friends and family first, but Ruel surprised me when he showed up at school, and then it spread fast.' It was really the best I could do, and I couldn't be bothered explaining the whole situation to each person.
Next was the fan accounts category. Five of the six accounts I follow have said something about it, the majority being a repost/story addition of @ruelnotified's post, which is another repost of some yr 9 girls story. It contains an unflattering video of Ruel hugging me, with the caption "When @oneruel comes to your school to pick his secret gf up 😭😱", and another video of him kissing my hands, and then making me laugh. That video is my least favourite since the yr 9 kid somehow found my @ and tagged me in it. Also, I don't look good in either of the videos and I'm not quite sure how to feel about that.
My favourite fan account has even tagged me in a separate story, saying "Omg, Ruel's girlfriend follows me!!" which makes me more uncomfortable since Ruel didn't really know just how... captivated \ I was by him before we met, and I don't need him finding out. I thought the accounts would just speculate, the way they did when the photo of Ruel kissing Mary Argy came out, but they are full-on assuming that we're together, doesn't leave much room for clarification from us.
The final category is the 'random fans who decided to DM me' one. This one is particularly weird since the majority of the are just telling me how sad they are that they aren't me, or how they wish that I didn't exist. Some of them are really harsh, saying that I'm 'hogging' him, one of them even says that I didn't do anything to deserve him. I don't even open most of them, just delete the requests.
As if he knew what I was reading, Ruel calls me at the perfect time. As I answer the call, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, and suddenly feel the need to cry over everything. Not just the DM's and comments about me, but the entire ordeal that's taken place in the last two months.
I manage to whisper a weak "Hey..." into the phone before breaking into quiet sobs, quiet enough that he can't hear them.
"How are they treating you?" Is all he says back. I curl my self up and put my feet on the seat, making myself as small as possible.
"I guess It's mostly ok, but some of the DM's I'm getting are really..." I pause before choosing my next word, I don't want him to worry about me. "...odd."
"I'm sorry, I wish I could just hug you right now."
"It's ok, better now than when the song is coming out, or especially when you start doing shows again. It was smart to spread the stress out a bit." I laugh like we actually planned this.
"Indi..." He starts to say something.
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for putting up with me. I know I wouldn't have been able to do it if the roles were reversed"
"Like I said, I'm stubborn." I laugh, I'm still crying, but it's from mixed emotions now. I notice the bus is approaching the street my school is on. "I need to go, I'm almost at school. Will you be at the studio tonight?"
"Yeah, I'll see you then. Good luck with everything."
"Thank you, I'll see you later." I hang up and unfurl myself from the ball I'm in. The bus stops and a few students get out as I walk down from the back and get out myself. My foot hits the floor and I feel a weight on my shoulders as if there's someone or something behind me pushing down on them, hunching my over and telling me to make myself small or I'll be noticed.
The weirdest part of this all is I know that nobody at school really knows me, I know that the vast majority won't recognise me just from the photos and videos of yesterday afternoon, and I know that some of them don't even know who Ruel is and if they do they probably don't care about his love life. And yet all my anxieties about today only grow. They form into what seems like a person - no - a large shadow, that looms over me and whispers my insecurities and fears into my ear as I walk up the front path to my locker.
Callum is waiting for me when I get there, he sees my face and a panic sets in. "What happened are you ok?"
It takes me a moment to muster up a reply. "Girls are a lot meaner online than in real life..."
He looks like he doesn't know how to deal with this. "Let's go fix your makeup." He pulls me over to the girl's bathrooms. I wipe off the smudged mascara and remember Callum's date with Adam last night.
"So... how was your evening'" I ask him quietly.
"I don't know, we just did what we normally do... watch movies on the couch and order uber eats," I look at him suggestively. "Nothing really happened. I mean I guess he's my boyfriend now but it's not a huge deal or anything."
I gasp and hug him, the news overjoys me, it's nice to see that at least he's happy...
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The rest of school was terrible, the whole day was a mix of waiting in agony until I could go home, and pretending to be nice to girls who suddenly wanted to be my friend. When the final bell rang at 3, I practically ran out of the classroom straight to the bus stop. I had planned this at lunch by taking all my stuff to my last two classes in order to skip going back to my locker. In the safety of the back seats, I broke down. Not so much sobbing this time, but silent tears ran down my cheeks as I longed for him. All I wanted in the world right now was a hug. No... I wanted him to kiss me again. I wanted to feel his arms around my neck and the safety of his love.
Love... It hadn't even occurred to me until now, but there is no doubt in my mind that I love him.
A/N - wow I really published the book like "the premise is well underway, now I can publish it and regularly update :)" and then got WRITERS BLOCK. Anyway I'm tired of all the sappy romance, let's make it *steamy* - El
YOU ARE READING
courage
Fanfiction"Explain..." I whisper, and when he just stands there, staring at the floor, I start shouting, "Adam! Explain to me what's happening! M-Phazes heard our song..? Or.. One of his clients or something..? What is going on!" that's my initial reaction to...
